Exhibition: in Meaux, men and horses, brothers in arms in 14-18

Published on May 3, 2025 at 12:34 p.m.

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African donkeys for trench service. Émile Léon Schultz, notebook no. 8, France, 1917. Gelatin silver print and manuscript. EL Schultz/Museum of the Great War, Meaux

A well-documented exhibition at the Museum of the Great War in Meaux depicts the fate of equines during the First World War. Mobilized men and civilian populations shared the suffering of the terrible conflict with horses, donkeys, and mules.

While Steven Spielberg's 2011 film, War Horse, adapted from the novel by British author Michael Morpurgo, brilliantly and sensitively depicts the fate of equines mobilized in World War I, no exhibition has yet addressed the subject. The Great War Museum in Meaux (Seine-et-Marne) masterfully fills this void. Showing the shared destinies between men and animals during the conflict, without forgetting the civilian population, the exhibition "Of Horses and Men" provides a comprehensive overview of a special relationship over four horrific years.

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